Archive for Coventry
open position in mathematical finance at Warwick
Posted in Kids, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags Applied Statistics & Risk Unit, assistant professor position, Coventry, CRiSM, data science, deadline, Department of Computer Science, department of statistics, finance, Great-Britain, mathematical finance, Mathematics Institute, Midlands, MORSE, United Kingdom, University of Warwick, Warwick Centre for the Applications of Mathematical and Computing Sciences, Warwickshire on October 24, 2025 by xi'an
turning sixty…
Posted in pictures, Travel, University life with tags 60th Anniversary, Britain, campus life, Coventry, Faculty of Arts, Occulus Building, University of Warwick, Warwickshire, WMG on October 5, 2025 by xi'an
CRiSM 2.0 [21-23 May]
Posted in pictures, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags conference, Coventry, CRiSM, Great-Britain, Mathematical Sciences Building, plenary speaker, poster, Statistics conference, University of Warwick, Warwick campus on May 21, 2025 by xi'an
banKrUpt, franc’route
Posted in Kids, pictures, Travel, University life with tags bankruptcy, Brexit, college ranking, Coventry, COVID-19, foreign students, French government, French politics, inflation, Labour, Le Monde, Nature, PhD course, Russian invasion, Scotland, Shanghai ranking, student fees, tuition fees, UK Government, UK politics, UK universities, Université Paris Dauphine, University of Coventry, University of Warwick on November 14, 2024 by xi'anRead in both Le Monde (Sept) and Nature (26 Sept) concerning articles about the poor financial state of many higher education institutions in the UK, if not the most prestigious ones… (Warwick being so far preserved from that issue, if not the neighbouring University of Coventry.) Up to 80% of French universities—prestigious and less prestigious alike—are also facing repeated deficits, for several years in a row, if mostly for different reasons besides the after-effects of COVID and the economical crisis amplified by the Russian invasion.
The main difference (between France and Britain—minus bonnie Scotland!) is in the UK government not providing direct support to higher education institutions, treating them as businesses that must make a profit on average to survive. To add insult to injury, the short-sighted Sunak Government has strongly reduced the number of foreign students (that they considered immigrants) when those are a key component of the universities business models since they pay much higher fees compared with the capped fees for UK nationals. Surprisingly (to me), the new Labour government does not intend to change either policy. The more surprising (to me) when the first institutions to fail will be (are?) those concentrating students from less privileged backgrounds. Quite paradoxical for a party with social ideals and socialist roots. Besides, repeated reductions of the attractivity of Britain for higher education may reach a no-return point in terms of its (World first-tier) scientific productivity.
France is financing its universities for 60% of their budget, while tuition fees in national universities (that do no include Paris Dauphine) are nominal for EU students (and special cases like PhD programs). Progressive cuts have led to tighter budgets, more deficit, with limited alternative sources of financing, since raising students fees is completely taboo. Added to academic positions being little attractive (for offering comparatively low salaries), this abides poorly for France keeping being part of top higher education countries. (It already figures very rarely in the country comparisons produced by Nature on an almost weekly basis.) The new higher education minister is known for pushing towards more “autonomy” (read less financing) of universities and the current State deficit may prove the tipping point for cutting further State support for public higher education institutions at large and fundamental research.
psyclepaths….
Posted in Running, Travel with tags bike accident, Coventry, cycle path, Daily Mail, Garmin, Kenilworth, law, London, Porte de Versailles, psychopath, road accidents, road safety, sculpture, UK, UK Government, UK politics, urban cycling, Valencia conferences on August 31, 2024 by xi'an
“In the six days since a law to prosecute dangerous cyclists was announced, somewhere close to 30 people will have been killed on UK roads, none of them struck by bikes. About 500 more will have suffered serious, potentially life-changing injuries, with pretty much all connected to motor vehicles. Again, going on the statistical averages, over those same six days, slightly more than 1,600 people across the UK will have died due to illnesses associated with physical inactivity. Riding a bike cuts your likelihood of developing such conditions by about half.” Peter Walker, Bike blog, The Guardian, 21 May 2024
Indeed, the UK Government is creating a new offence of “causing death or serious injury by dangerous, careless or inconsiderate cycling”! Where dangerous remains to be properly defined and assessed. (As most cyclists have no speedometer, and the remaining ones may prove more dangerous checking their speed on their Garmin watch! As I am when going downhill to Porte de Versailles around 40km/h…, if not 52mph as hilariously denounced by the predictably cyclophobic Daily Mail!) Another illustration of overreaction, cheap fear-mongering, and electoralist populism based on a single horrific deadly accident, and mostly missing the elephant in the room, that is, the lack of proper uninterrupted bike lanes and other infrastructures that should not be shared with pedestrians, cars, or buses. And the intentionally hidden disproportion between car-caused and cycle-caused deaths. (Of course, I am totally biased towards cycling, while some will consider my running managing red lights wanton and furious! But I stand by the fact that cycling usually gets the worst of car and pedestrian regulations.)
As an aside, the pun in the title first came to me as a joke told by Tony O’Hagan, presumably told at a Valencia meeting decades ago. Apparently it is popular enough to be adopted by cycling enthusiasts.
